Book People

Gordon Brown, Britain's Chancellor of the Exchequer, is interviewed at the Brighton Book Festival in England on May 13, 2007. Brown has staked his bid for the leadership of Britain's ruling Labour Party on the importance of education and health care and the promise of an even stronger economy. (AP Photo/Andrew Parsons/Pool)

Actor Gene Wilder signs copies of his debut novel, “My French Whore,” at Waterstones in London on May 11, 2007.

Alice Waters, right, and Carlo Petrini, left, toast with Navarro pinot noir grape juice at Greens restaurant in San Francisco on May 10, 2007. Petrini, who wrote the book, "Slow Food Nation," is on a U.S. book tour to promote a movement that emphasizes a return to regional traditions and home cooking from local ingredients. Waters, a well-known chef, writer, and restaurant owner, wrote the book's introduction.

Hungarian writer and Nobel Literature Prize winner Imre Kertesz sits in front of a video screen during the opening of the Book Basel fair in Basel, Switzerland on May 10, 2007.

Hip-hop performer Kanye West attends a book signing for his mother Donda West's book "Raising Kanye: Life Lessons from the Mother of a Hip-Hop Superstar" at Borders in Los Angeles on May 9, 2007.

Actress Rue McClanahan speaks at a book signing for her new book "My First Five Husbands" at Book Soup in West Hollywood, Calif., on May 2, 2007.

Dina Matos McGreevey signs copies of her book, "Silent Partner, A Memoir of My Marriage," at a Barnes & Noble in Springfield, N.J., on May 1, 2007. The estranged wife of the nation's first openly gay governor, former New Jersey Gov. James E. McGreevey, told a large audience that she wrote the book because there was so much interest and she was tired of people concocting her life story.

Darwin Coon, a former inmate who spent four years on Alcatraz Island for bank robbery, sits in his former cell in San Francisco on April 30, 2007. Coon wrote a book about his experiences on the island and is frequently found in the gift shop signing copies and greeting visitors. Coon was among the last inmates to the leave the island in 1962.

Actress and author Victoria Rowell, left, holds a copy of her book as she stands with fellow actress Kate Linder at Los Angeles City Hall on April 30, 2007.

George Tenet, former CIA director, arrives for an interview in New York on April 30, 2007. Tenet discussed his new book, "At the Center of the Storm."

Yu Dan, a media expert and professor at Beijing Normal University, speaks during the Taiwan release of her compilation book of the teachings of Chinese scholar Confucius in Taipei on April 30, 2007. With her clear, rapid-fire lectures, Yu Dan has become an instant television celebrity selling the moral teachings of Confucius' 2,500-year-old philosophies to an audience in mainland China.

Best-selling Brazilian author Paulo Coelho gestures in his home in Paris on April 24, 2007. With his gray beard, knowing eyes and talk of dreams and inspiration, he seems like a sage, then suddenly he's talking with glee about his global book sales. He's drawn to the ascetic life, following pilgrimage routes or wandering in the Mojave desert, yet he's an Internet addict who's in "withdrawal" without his computer.

Writer Walter Mosely appears at the 12th Annual L.A. Times Festival of Books on the UCLA campus on April 29, 2007.

Writer Michael Connelly poses at the 12th Annual L.A. Times Festival of Books on the UCLA campus on April 29, 2007.

Dr. Phil McGraw, left, appears in a conversation with writer Mitch Albom at the 12th Annual L.A. Times Festival of Books at Royce Hall on the UCLA campus on April 29, 2007.

Writers, from left, Mary Higgins Clark, Connie Martinson, and Carol Higgins Clark, participate in a panel discussion at the 12th Annual LA Times Festival of Books at Royce Hall on the UCLA campus on April 28, 2007. (Photo by Charley Gallay/Getty Images)

Author Gore Vidal appears in conversation with writer Jon Wiener at the 12th Annual L.A. Times Festival of Books in Royce Hall on the UCLA campus on April 28, 2007.

Former Sen. Edward W. Brooke, 86, signs copies of his book "Bridging the Divide: My Life" after giving a talk at the Massachusetts Historical Society in Boston on April 24, 2007. According to the Biographical Directory of the United States Senate, Brooke became the first African-American elected by popular vote to the U.S. Senate in 1966 as a Republican from Massachusetts.

Author Jon Spence poses at his home in Sydney, Australia, on March 23, 2007. His book, "Becoming Jane Austen," suggests the young Austen who wrote "Pride and Prejudice" and "Sense and Sensibility" was not the solitary genius long imagined by historians, but a spirited young woman whose imagination was fed by a passionate, ill-fated courtship. It has been loosely adapted into a film starring Anne Hathaway and Maggie Smith.

Actor Kirk Douglas, 90, poses at his residence in Beverly Hills, Calif., on March 29, 2007. Douglas has just published his ninth book, "Let's Face It."